UN chief calls for calm, restraint in post-election Togo

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called upon Togo's political leaders and their supporters to keep calm and restraint after the announcement of the provisional results of the March 4 presidential elections in the West African country.

A statement, issued here by Ban's spokesman, said that the secretary-general "calls for the same calm and restraint during this period as that which was witnessed on voting day."

Earlier on Saturday, the National Independent Electoral Commission announced the provisional results of the presidential election in Togo, reports said.

"The secretary-general reiterates his call on all political leaders and their supporters to refrain from any action that could jeopardize the peaceful conclusion of the electoral process," the statement said.

"He further calls upon them to resolve any electoral grievances through legal and institutional channels and appeals for any such complaints to be reviewed and adjudicated in a fair and transparent manner."

The Electoral Commission said Faure Gnassingbe, the current president of Togo, was re-elected in the race against his opposition challenger Jean-Pierre Fabre. He won 1.2 million votes of two million cast, reports said, considerably more than his rival's tally of 692,584.

Fabre had also claimed victory in the election, alleging irregularities in the vote-counting system.

He said that a lack of adequate vote validation meant the count was now "illegal" and that "everything the electoral commission is doing is false."


Source: Xinhua